Taking Shots

"You were all so cute as little kids! What happened," Lyra asked.

"I am still extremely cute, thank you very much," Rabastan huffed, but his wide grin said that he was amused.

"I think I'm still cute," Rod said seriously. "And your mum is very, very cute, especially with a wand in her hand and a Killing Curse on her lips."

Lyra scoffed. "You know what I mean... What happened? What made you all become so hardened? Why do you like torturing people?" Before anyone could reply, Lyra held up a slender hand. "Wait...I have an idea! Let's play a drinking game. One person asks questions, and the others take a shot. So we go around and everyone gets equally drunk in the end! It's a fun way to get to know one another, and I need to know you lot and you need to know me. I'd honestly rather do this than watch your fond memories of torture, if it's all the same."

"She doesn't like torture," Rodolphus muttered in glum disapproval. "This right here is what comes of not being able to raise one's own child, Bella."

"I don't mind torture if the person did something personally to me," Lyra said, then shrugged. "I mean, I guess I don't mind, I've never exactly done that before, the Mind Ripping aside."

"Bella said 'no drinking' 'cause Delphini and being off our guard," Rabastan said, tone openly resentful.

"Well, we can make an exception for just one night, can't we," Lyra asked, looking expectantly to Bellatrix. "After all, if you want me staying here, you need to give a little."

Bellatrix sighed. "We do have a bodyguard and a ton of wards on the manor so I suppose, but just this one night."

"This is the complete wild child of the Black family, and now she's being all fucking responsible," Rabastan complained. "That right there is scaring the shit out of me more than anything else." Even as he made this complaint, Rabastan was already heaving himself up from his chair to go and fetch a bottle of whiskey and some shot glasses.

"You aren't going to allow the poor spider to drink? That's mean," Lyra said disapprovingly.

"Do you want to drink," Rodolphus asked curiously, turning toward Rhadamanthus who silently crouched in the doorway.

"Though I admit I am curious, it probably would not be professional under the circumstances," the Acromantula rasped back. "Besides...you probably don't have enough whiskey."

Rodolphus chuckled. "Point taken. But as soon as we're able, we'll get a case and get you drunk with us," he promised. "I, for one, would love to see you drunk!"

Bellatrix nodded. "As long as we drink at home, I think we could take the bitch drunk if she came to fight. I have never been too drunk to cast a Killing Curse or stab something, after all."

"I'm sure I could Mind Rip drunk," Lyra said with a grin as Rabastan came back into the library.

Once everything was arranged on the table with the bottle in the center and a shot glass in front of each of them Lyra nodded in satisfaction. "Okay, I ask the question, all three of you pour shots and drink, then answer. Then you can ask me a question, and I'll answer and drink."

Bellatrix felt a thrill of excitement at the idea of getting to know her daughter, and she did enjoy the way they were going about it. It seemed Lyra had fire in her blood after all. Rod poured their shots, and Bellatrix tossed hers back before forming her reply to Lyra's question concerning what had hardened them. "Nothing happened to us. I always had a temper, and I always found the Mudbloods and their sympathizers a frank embarrassment to the wizarding world, not to mention the reason for most, if not all, of the problems throughout history. Give Muggles and Mudbloods a goddamn drop, and they take the entire ocean!"

"Damned right," Rodolphus said. "And they need to see who's in charge, proper pureblood families with the correct values to form society into something strong, rather than weak and fearful."

Rabastan nodded. "Yeah, they just make everything suck if you don't keep them in line. Weak shit like what the Mudbloods and their little pure and half-blood sympathizer friends do is why we are cowering in the shadows because of Muggles today!" He pointed at Lyra. "Now it's time for you to answer something for Uncle Rabastan."

"Okay," Lyra said a little nervously. Her expression was eager as she eyed the bottle then poured herself a shot.

"Is this man of yours a Mudblood or a blood traitor?" Rabastan demanded suspiciously, and Lyra laughed, shaking her head and downing her shot.

"No way! Aunt Agrona and Uncle Jehan would've never gone for that, don't worry! They didn't go soft while you were in prison just because they gave me a good life."

"Good to know," Rodolphus said. "On that note, I'm having another shot!"

"Hey! You can't do that," Lyra objected. "It's breaking the rules."

Rodolphus grinned at his daughter. "Fuck the rules. That's one of the Lestrange family mottos, though not precisely with that exact phrasing."

"I suppose that's convenient," Lyra said, grinning in spite of herself. "It's your turn to drink anyway while I ask a question." As they poured she drew in a deep breath as if steeling herself. Bellatrix wasn't worried, though, because there was nothing she could think of that she'd mind telling her child. "Do you love me? Or is it just that you want me here because I'm yours, and I should be here?"

"Of course we love you," Rodolphus said. "Don't be ridiculous. You're our baby girl."

"For sure," Rabastan said, tossing back his shot.

For her part, Bellatrix was struggling against tears. "Lyra...I carried you and had you and protected you from HIM. You are our baby, and we loved you always. The first time I looked into your tiny one second old screaming face I connected with you, and it tore me apart to leave you."

"Yeah, probably didn't help her sanity, or Rod's either... We're all quite fragile, you know," Rabastan told Lyra, pointing a mock chiding finger though something serious did flicker in his eyes. Bellatrix sighed. Rabastan always behaved as though she was fragile, and that annoyed her because obviously she was not. She was Bellatrix Fucking Lestrange, after all.

"Our turn," she said, gesturing to Lyra's shot glass. "Pour up." As she spoke, she plundered her mind for a question to ask her daughter. As it turned out, one was right there waiting on the surface. "Are you still angry with us for leaving you?"

Lyra downed her shot and shook her head. "I guess not. Granted it is complicating everything and screwing up my life, but after getting a glimpse of Voldemort I get it." She shuddered. "Which leads to my next question… Why the fuck did you even follow that monster?" Her last words came out a bit slurred, indicating that she didn't drink very much. Bellatrix was barely feeling it herself.

She poured and tossed back her shot as did Rodolphus and Rabastan. It was Rod who answered Lyra's question first while Bella and Rabastan were still collecting their thoughts. "That's simple. He promised us power and glory with his very agenda. He promised us everything we ever wanted for the wizarding world, and if you were good enough to follow him, you got to be a big part of making that change. In short, he offered us everything we ever wanted…excitement, thrills, glory, power, and lots of fun."

"Fun," Lyra asked, arching a skeptical brow. "How so?"

"Well, we got to kill Muggles, burn their houses down, give them what they deserved. Plus, the questioning blood traitors and Mudbloods for information. That was good too because it obviously involved lots of torture."

"Yeah, we really got to sharpen our skills," Rabastan said fondly. "That was good, and I agree with everything Rod said, but I did it mostly because Rod and Bella did, and I didn't want to be left out."

Lyra choked on her shot. Following her father's earlier example, she'd decided to cheat and take one early. "You did all that just because my parents did?"

Rabastan shrugged. "Pretty much."

"Wow," Lyra said, shaking her head in bemusement before turning her eyes to Bellatrix who still hadn't spoken. "What about you?"

"I had the same reasons as your father," Bellatrix said slowly. "And once we were in his service, he had a way of treating us in the beginning that made us like and trust him. We really wanted to please him which meant we'd risk most things, including imprisonment, to carry out his wishes.

"In part, he made us feel that we were above the law, and pleasing him felt so good, almost like a high, that it was nearly a need. Of course it got far worse after he twisted our minds. Then it literally became an obsession, but I am speaking of the earlier days. He looked entirely human then, you know. Like a trustworthy father that was going to take us by the hand and lead us down the path of glory and power in the light of his wisdom."

Even as she spoke, Bellatrix cringed a little inside because the shadow of former adoration was still in her words. She knew the act of remembering to properly answer Lyra's question had brought it up, but it was disconcerting nonetheless. Reaching for the bottle she poured another shot, then refilled Rod's glass without having to be asked.

"That's my girl," he said with a grin, and she grinned wickedly back. "Always."